Modeling organelle transport in branching dendrites with a variable cross-sectional area.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a method for calculating organelle transport in dendrites with a non-uniform cross-sectional area that depends on the distance from the neuron soma. The model is based on modified Smith-Simmons equations governing molecular motor-assisted organelle transport. The developed method is then applied to simulating organelle transport in branching dendrites with two particular microtubule (MT) orientations reported from experiments. It is found that the rate of organelle transport toward a dendrite's growth cone heavily depends on the MT orientation, and since there is experimental evidence that the MT orientation in a particular region of a dendrite may depend on the dendrite's developmental stage, the obtained results suggest that a rearrangement of the MT structure may depend on the amount of organelles needed at the growth cone.